west africa

The worst outbreak of one of the most deadly viruses, Ebola, is occurring in a corner of the world generally ignored by the rest -- the intersection of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. Medicine Sans Frontiers, says it is in a race against time to curb the epidemic. Having lived and worked in Kailahun, the centre of the affected region, I would say Ebola had 20-30 years head start.

| Herakles Farms aims to establish a huge palm oil plantation in one of the poorest countries in Africa. Frederic Mousseau calls the project a land grab that will make billions of dollars for investors.

France perpetrated two large deceptions in conducting its military intervention into Mali six weeks ago. These have been universally accepted in mainstream media reporting.

The first is that the unilateral decision to invade Mali on January 11, 2013 was hastily made, prompted by imminent military threats by Islamic fundamentalist forces against the south of the country where the large majority of Malians live.

The second is that France intends to quickly exit Mali. "French leaders have said they intend to start pulling out the 4,000 troops in Mali in March to hand over security to the Malian army and to the U.N.-backed AFISMA force, an African military contingent…" says a typical report in the Chicago Tribune on February 18.

"France is in Mali for the long haul." That's the headline in today's France daily Le Monde. The newspaper's front page, as well as pages 2 and 3, are devoted to a discussion over 'what next' for France and the world in Mali.

Do France's objectives for Operation Serval, its military intervention in Mali, make sense? This question matters to everyone, not least to the countries from which France is seeking assistance. As the world learned in Afghanistan, to name just the most obvious recent example, if expectations are unrealistic foreign troops tend to remain long after any conceivable justification exists.

The French daily Le Monde publishes a report on Jan. 25 by one of its correspondents in Mali, Jean-Phillipe Rémy. He managed to enter the town of Sévaré, one of the first to be taken by French forces and their Mali army subordinates. It is located in the region of the city of Mopti, near the frontier separating southern Mali from the beginning of the vast expanse of northern Mali.

France is knocking on Canada's door seeking assistance for its intervention in Mali, and Canada's door seems to be open a crack. Besides providing the French military, a military transport plane, at least temporarily, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird says Canada wants to offer both humanitarian aid and "support for the restoration of democracy." This will come as a pleasant surprise to many Malians.

France, the former slave power of west Africa, has poured into Mali with a vengeance in a military attack launched on January 11. French warplanes are bombing towns and cities across the vast swath of northern Mali, a territory measuring some one thousand kilometers from south to north and east to west. French soldiers in armoured columns have launched a ground offensive, beginning with towns in the south of the northern territory, some 300 km north and east of the Malian capital of Bamako.